The Valley League’s junior varsity league cross country meet Nov. 8 at Kit Carson Park concluded with Ramona High School’s boys taking first place as a team and Ramona sophomore Jackson Sutter being the first individual across the finish line.

“We did really well this week as a team and individually,” said Head Coach Steve Albanese.

Sutter posted a time of 18:16 on the 3.0-mile course. The race was his second individual win of the year. He was also the first finisher in the junior varsity boys race at the Southern California Invitational meet Oct. 19.

“He’s decided to commit to running full-time,” Albanese said. “I’m excited about that, and I think he has a lot of potential.”

Ramona also had the third overall boys finisher with Matt Meskell posting a time of 18:19. Colin McNulty placed eighth at 18:41 and Danny Edwards was 10th with a time of 18:47.

A Valley League cluster meet was held at Kit Carson Park on Oct. 31. Sutter and Edwards both finished that meet’s junior varsity race in 18:31 with Sutter placing third and Edwards finishing fourth. Edwards also plays soccer and took a cleat to the foot during the week between the two races.

“He could have been pretty close to Jackson had he not had to run through the foot pain,” Albanese said.

Sam Clough, who has been hampered by an Achilles tendon injury, ran his second race of the season Nov. 8 and placed 15th with a time of 19:33.

Each school can enter up to 12 runners at this Saturday’s varsity league meet at Kit Carson Park, so the top five runners at the JV league meet will join Ramona’s top seven varsity runners.

Colton Meskell finished the JV league meet race in 19:47 to take 18th place. Chance Hardin raced for 20:36 and finished 32nd. Adam Ramirez was the 42nd finisher 21:19 after the start of the race. Angel Perez placed 45th with a time of 21:35.

Because only four Ramona girls ran in the JV league meet, the Bulldogs did not obtain a team score in the girls race.

“Those that did run ended up running pretty well,” Albanese said.

The girls course was 2.7 miles. Anna Sundrud was Ramona’s first finisher, placing fifth overall at 20:22. Lucia Hernandez finished seventh with a time of 20:47. Nicole Pshsnychniak took 11th place 22:00 after the starter’s gun was fired. Aixa Garcia-Cedillo was the 22nd finisher and spent 23:51 racing.

In the league cluster meet’s JV girls race Hernandez had a time of 21:28, which means she dropped 41 seconds at the JV league meet. Garcia-Cedillo improved her time from 25:54, equating to a drop of 2:03.